2010:365:159 Wet day....

The season is upon us!  Every day a new shade, a fresh fragrance, an exquisite flower appears in the rose bed.  Today, in spite of heavy rain, was no different.  The "Arthur Bell" is now in full bloom and was suffering from the sheer weight of water on the petals.  Five of them, cut off in rather a hurry, were brought into the house and now fill the room with their perfume.

Taking photographs outside wouldn't have been easy today without an umbrella or a gazebo so the kitchen bench did just as well.  

The rainwater spilling onto the dark surface gave some texture to the background and adds the reminder of the kind of day it was.

Dashing back into the house I noticed that the white rose also had a head almost touching the ground as it took a pounding from the rain.  

This is "White Gold" and it has an intense fragrance.  What a magnificent creation!  How absolutely beautiful!   

On a very dull day when I was writing two funeral sermons the beauty of these flowers cheered my soul.  Both deaths of older ladies and both of them keen gardeners.... inspiration for how to begin sermons sometimes comes in unexpected ways.  Bringing in the roses was for my benefit (and to save the flowers from rain damage) but it also sparked off ideas for the two talks.  

For the beauty of the earth,

for the glory of the skies,

for the love which from our birth

over and around us lies,

          Christ our God, to thee we raise

          this our sacrifice of praise.

For the joy of ear and eye,

for the heart and mind's delight,

for the mystic harmony

linking sense to sound and sight.

Church Hymnal number 350

by Folliott Sandford Pierpoint